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[IMGCAP(1)]To some eyes, the Cessna 177 Cardinal RG is the sleekest and most attractive piston single the manufacturer ever built. The Cardinal RG shares its fixed-gear siblings strutless wing, rakish cowl and windshield, along with a seating position that lets the pilot see past the leading edge of the wing, while allowing all four occupants to ride in the shade.

Owners say that the Cardinal RG has many good points. Its faster than most of its peers (Mooneys being the obvious exception), roomier than all but the Beech Sierra, and has a better useful load than the competition, to boot. However, there are some notorious problems that prospective buyers should be aware of before consider…

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Although long since outclassed by generations of faster, sleeker airplanes, nothing quite symbolizes general aviation like a yellow Piper Cub.

To this day, the general public often thinks of all small airplanes as Piper Cubs, despite the fact that these airplanes are, in reality, a relative rarity at many big city airports. And if they are there, theyre likely hangared and kept pristine by owners who consider their J-3 a flying pride and joy.

The venerable Cub was the first airplane to bring general aviation to the masses and it continues to enjoy somewhat of a revival, as new pilots brought up on the mundane handling of nosewheel trainers discover the pure fun of stick…

[IMGCAP(1)]Its a good-performing, honest four-seater and also a lot of fun to fly. Like any other taildragger, though, it can bite. And though 170s still are quite affordable, prices continue to climb.

Cessna built 5,136 of the airplanes in a nine-year production run that ended over 40 years ago. But time has taken a toll on the population. Today, considerably less than half of the airplanes are still flying; and accident records show that ground loops and hard landings are continuing to thin out the 170 fleet at quite a clip.

Still, there are many who turn a veiled eye on the taildraggers safety record and dismiss the tricycle-gear 172-the 170s successor-as a giant step backward…

[IMGCAP(1)]The Cessna 172 probably ties with the Piper Cub as everymans vision of the little airplane. Probably more people recognize the Cub name; but more recognize the shape of the Skyhawk.

A grand total of 35,773 were built during its original 31-year production run, and there are better than 20,000 of those flying in the United States plus thousands more flying around the world. (And don’t forget: it was a C-172 that was the first private airplane to visit Red Square in Moscow.)

Plus, the evergreen 172 is back in production again, complete with a new fuel-injected engine, various tweaks and a price tag exeeding $150,000.

Even for the less adventurous, the 172 continues to app…

[IMGCAP(1)]The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is, in many ways, the standard fixed gear single. Filling much the same niche in aviation as a Toyota Camry does in the automotive world, it may not be exciting, but it performs its mission very well. The 172 has much to recommend it: good stability, docile handling, low stall speeds and a fairly rugged airframe design.

Inevitably, though, there are those who want or need a bit more performance. For those pilots, Cessna offered the Cardinal as a step-up fixed-gear single. Sporting a 180 HP powerplant and constant-speed prop in all but the earliest versions, the Cardinal fit into the lineup between the Skyhawk and the larger (and more powerful) Skylane.<...

[IMGCAP(1)]Way back in the 1960s, when the Cessna 150 was on its way to becoming the dominant two-seat trainer of all time, many pilots and most instructors had been trained on conventional gear, which was to say taildraggers.

But no more. The majority of todays pilots were trained in nosegear aircraft and who doesnt have logbook entries showing some Cessna 150 or 152 time? The reasons for that are many. The 150/152 filled a niche perfectly, being relatively cheap to operate, easy to fly with few bad habits and originated by a company that defined light aircraft manufacturing after World War II.

History
Following World War II, Cessna enjoyed good sales success with fir…

[IMGCAP(1)]The Beech Bonanza has always been considered the very top of the line in single-engine aircraft, and the top of the Bonanza line for almost 20 years have been the A36TC and B36TC turbocharged long-fuselage straight-tail models, which remain in production to this day. (The normally aspirated 36 is really in a different class and thats why its covered in the previous chapter.)

The 36 turbos offer a sizeable cabin, good high-altitude cruise numbers and the security of the straight-tail design. They have held their value extremely well. But the A model had serious range shortcomings, and both aircraft tend to run hot and fall short of rated engine TBO times.

Genealogy<...

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Pilots browsing through the light turboprops as a natural step up from a piston twin might be drawn to the Mitsubishi MU-2s by the lure of dazzling speed, unbeatable short-field work and a less-than-shocking purchase price. However, the airplane has a reputation as being hot and dangerous. Most owners attribute this to bad press, but the press had to come from somewhere: in this case, it was the accident rate, which was very high in the early years-so high that the FAA considered requiring a type rating for the MU-2. That never came to pass, however.

So, is the MU-2 unsafe? Owners universally say no, but…. The but is the need for initial and recurrent training. One…

[IMGCAP(1)]The Travel Air was Beechs entry into the then-new light twin market, making use of a formula used successfully by several manufacturers: take the basic design of a successful single and make a twin out of it. The single in this case was the Bonanza. Later on, Beech did the same thing over again and got the Baron as a result. Compared to the prestigious and pricey Barons, though, the Travel Air can be a real bargain.

However, the Travel Air is, shall we say, a vintage airplane; one that, no matter how virtuous, is getting very long in the tooth. The tough decision for a buyer, then, is whether the price savings offered by the Model 95-which has escalated to perhaps $50,000 t…

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The Mooney M20J, introduced in 1977, marked a turning point for Mooney. It was the beginning of a new era, simultaneously retaining the traditional Mooney strong points while delivering significant improvements in performance, appearance and utility over its predecessors. So good was the initial product that it has continued in production to this day largely unchanged, despite several name alterations along the way.

History
The basic airframe of nearly all Mooneys (the ill-received Porsche PFM being a notable exception) is essentially the same, and has been since the M20A of the mid-1950s. It consists of a semi-monocoque rear fuselage, metal-skinned steel tube ca…

[IMGCAP(1)]To many pilots, the Bonanza is the paradigm of the business single. The Baron represents the same image when it comes to the light twin. These aircraft have a reputation for high quality, good handling, excellent performance, and high cost of ownership. Theyre not for everybody, but they engender great loyalty amongst their owners.

But, like any other airplane, the 55 Baron embodies some important compromises. For instance, what many find to be pleasant handling characteristics can prove to be a handful in bad weather. Also, many Barons have the infamous Beech backwards gear- and flap-switch arrangement (not to mention the non-standard throttle quadrant), which has long bee…

[IMGCAP(1)]The Beech Baron 58 is an airplane for those who have, shall we say, arrived. It carries a well-deserved reputation for solid construction, good performance, sweet handling and a certain style. It also carries a rather enormous initial price tag and an equally well-deserved reputation for high parts and maintenance costs. But if you can afford one, there are few twins in its class that can approach it.

History
The Baron shares genes with the Bonanza, making use of essentially the same landing gear and systems, along with a fuselage similar to the six-place 36 series. Its direct ancestry goes back to the 95 Travel Air, which begat the 55 Baron.

The Model 58 Baron…